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Everyone knows that the pyramids are the most iconic structures of ancient Egypt. Heck, many would argue that they are the most impressive structures of all ancient history.
To one degree or another, people are well aware that the pyramids are old, but when it comes down to just how old they are, most people really don’t understand.
One thing that can help many people to get a better picture of the long line of history is to look at some key moments and compare them to the age of the pyramids.
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One fun one to look at is the iconic Egyptian ruler Cleopatra. She ruled Egypt, and many would assume that she was around when the pyramids were built, or at least in the same general timeframe.
They would be wrong. In reality, Cleopatra lived closer to today than she did to the time when the pyramids were built. She ruled from 70 BCE to 30BCE, and the pyramids at Giza were built between 2600 and 2500 BCE during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom.
To her, the pyramids were already famous parts of very ancient history.
Another way to look at this is that Jesus and his followers were closer to the time of the iPhone than the pyramids.
Garrett Ryan is a historian and author of several books on Roman and Greek history. He explained:
“By Cleopatra’s time, the Pyramids of Giza were famous far beyond Egypt, and were highlights of a well-established tourist circuit. They still had most of their casing stones – those would be stripped after being loosened by medieval earthquakes – though they appear to have been in less than pristine shape by the first century CE[.]
It is all but certain that [Cleopatra] visited, most famously when she voyaged up the Nile with Caesar and a flotilla of 400 boats. There is no explicit mention of her stopping to admire the pyramids, but it would have been surprising if she did not. The Egyptian priesthood was still a vibrant force in her time, as it would be for centuries.”
That’s right. If you’ve ever visited the pyramids, or you hope to someday, you would almost certainly be checking out the same tourist hotspot that Cleopatra visited, and for largely the same reasons.
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Human history is long and incredible. Having context as to what really happened when can help to paint a clearer picture of just how much time it took to accomplish the many things humans have done.
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